Azaikah

Selections from classical Torah sources
which express the special relationship between
the People of Israel and Eretz Yisrael

AZAIKAH

This is a little known city mentioned in the gemara (Masechta Ketuvot 122a):

"If a non-Jew enters a market place outside of Eretz Yisrael and announces that he is selling fruits from the city of Azaikah he is not believed, because we suspect that he is making this claim only to promote the quality of his wares."

Rashi explains that Azaikah was a city in Eretz Yisrael famed for its fruits. If its fruits are purchased by Jews even outside of Eretz Yisrael, they must be tithed before they can be eaten. The vendorís statement need not be taken seriously as a cause for tithing, since most fruits sold in that market are of local origin, and he is suspect of fabricating the source of his wares in order to better promote them.

Rabbi Shmuel Shtrashun (Rashash) suggests that this is the Azaikah mentioned in Yehoshua (10:11) where the Israelite forces defeated a coalition of Canaanite kings thanks to the boulders which Hashem rained down upon them from Heaven.